Page 105 of The Cowboy and the Baby

34

NOELLE

Cade didn’t respond.

No text.

No call.

Nor did Wyatt.

Cody returned with his friends after Cora texted him, letting him know that Noah may have found a general location up the two-track. He and his friends found nothing, anyway. Noah’s potential timestamp wasn’t certain, but it was something.

I warmed up dinner, set it out. Everyone ate half-heartedly, twitching at each noise. Hawk sent updates to Channing, and Noah stayed on the video call, a quiet presence in the background, occasionally asking Cora questions.

“No more timestamps,” he said once. “They’re probably out of reception.”

The whole ranch waited, breath held, storm wilding.

Cody cleared the table while I sank a stack of dirty plates into soapy, warm water, grounded by the heat surrounding my fingers, my hands, lapping at my wrists. I closed my eyes, focusing on it. For a moment, Grandma arose in my mind. Her weathered, veiny hands sinking into the water, laughing as I stood at her side in a matching apron. She washed, I dried. My own giggle faded into the back of my mind.

Naomi surfaced next. Young Naomi, when she still liked me. When we played together in the sandbox, when her eyes were bright and lustrous, when we weren’t both trying to escape the weight of the family who raised us.

Please, I thought to Grandma, to Naomi, wherever they were now. Please protect Lily.

Cody brought another stack of dirty cups. As he set them next to the sink, he sucked in a sharp breath. His head snapped up. At the same time, Cora whirled toward the kitchen doorway that opened to the front room.

“I hear ‘em!” Cody cried.

As one, we rushed out of the kitchen to find two headlights hurrying up the driveway. The bright light made it impossible to see beyond the thick snowflakes, falling like sheets. Wind continued to batter the snow, whisking it like rag dolls.

One snowmobile pulled up and parked. I rushed outside, down the stairs. The cold attacked my wet hands, permeated my flannel shirt as I hurried off the porch, Cody hot on my heels. A lumpy form stepped away from the first snowmobile. I recognized Cade’s broad shoulders as he reached back, put out a hand, and helped someone else off.

Was it Wyatt?

Had he crashed?

But, wait. That definitely wasn’t Wyatt. I didn’t wonder for long. My eyes adjusted to the deep darkness surrounding the headlights. Mom’s hair whipped out of an insufficient coat. She tottered, righted herself, and let go of Cade’s arm.

He found them.

But where was Lily? Wyatt? Dad?

“Lily?” I shouted. Cade clomped over, grabbed my elbow.

“Inside!” he called, pointing to his coat. He put his body between me and the storm, guiding me by the elbow. Only then did I notice an extra lump on his chest. Cody rushed around us to help my mom, and I hurried up the stairs, protected by Cade’s body.

The moment he stepped in the house, he shucked off his gloves. I whipped around in time to see him fumble for his zipper and pull it down. A sob broke from my throat.

Lily!

She snoozed quietly and safely, against his chest. The wrap was awkward and stretched out against his broad shoulders, but when I reached for her, she was warm, and sleepy, without an ounce of chill on her little body. Cora grabbed a blanket off the couch and said, “Here!”

Relief flowed through me as Cade worked Lily free and handed her over. I flopped the blanket around her and pulled her close. She instantly snuggled into my chest, sighing with a deep shudder, and returned to fastidious sleep.

Her bundled warmth.

Her breaths.